146 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



During the last four or five years, I have 

 sold, here, only what I have been called upon 

 to supply. As competition became keener, 

 I sought and secured a custom in places far- 

 ther away and less glutted ; but time is re- 

 quired to establish a custom under any cir- 

 cumstances. 



I might write much on what appears to 

 me to be slirpidity on the part of many bee- 

 keepers in the matter of making sales. I 

 could tell of instances in my own experience 

 where I sought to buy the entire crop of a 

 bee-keeper, for cash, and failed, because I 

 declined to pay the same price for all he had 

 that he was willing to sell live pounds for. 

 In more than one instance, I liave gone to 

 the grocer to whom some bee-keeper had 

 bartered his honey, and bought it for less 

 than I had offered the producer. The most 

 satisfactory men to do business with, are 

 business men. I find there is but a limited 

 number of such among bee-keepers. 



At our aimual Association meeting, a year 

 ago, I read a paper entitled "The local lion- 

 ey market and how to cultivate it." If I 

 pursued this subjt ct farther, I should only be 

 repeating what 1 said there. This paper was 

 published in most of the leading bee journals. 

 If there are any who wish to know my views 

 upon this subject, they can look up the l)ack 

 numbers of those papers, and there they 

 will find them. 



The foregoing remarks are addressed 

 more particuiarly to the first of the two 

 classes into which I dividt d those who 

 are engaged in the production of honey. If 

 I entered upon the discussion of the subject, 

 as it affects the second class, I should be 

 imposing too much upon your good nature, 

 and perhaps I could say nothing that would 

 instruct or interest them. 

 Owen Sound, Ont. July 21, 18!)0. 



How Californians Market Their Honey. 



J. F. m'INTYBE. 



fN THIS county (Ventura), I believe 

 most of the honey is sold to a few spec- 

 ulators who ship it to commission men 

 in Sail Francisco. This takes one more 

 profit out of the bee-keeper, but saves all 

 anxiety and doubt as to whetlier honest re- 

 turns are made. 



I usually offer my honey to these specula- 

 tors at about what I think it will bring at 

 the time. If they do not take it I ship to a 

 commission house in San Francisco. So 

 far, the commission merchant has paid bet- 

 ter. That is, when I have trusted him I have 

 always gotten a good profit over the price 

 offered by the speculator. 



As a rule, it does not pay us to ship to 

 Eastern commission men. I know of two 

 carloads shipped in that way that netted 

 only about one cent a pound, while honey in 

 this place was selling for five cents. I be- 

 lieve the temptation for a commission man 

 to steal increases with the distance ; that it 

 would take a much better man to make hon- 

 est returns from New York than from San 

 Francisco. Before sending his honey to a 

 commission man, a bee-keeper should know 

 positively that it will not sour. ( )ne of my 



neighbors sent a lot to a sommission house 

 in San Francisco, giving orders that it be 

 held at a certain figure. In a month or two, 

 the commission merchants wrote him "The 

 honey is souring, what shall we do with it ? " 

 Instead of writing them to sell for what they 

 could get for it, as they expected him to do, 

 he bought a ticket for San Francisco (he 

 knew they were lying), and upon his arrival 

 he found the honey had been sold some time 

 before. To get out of it, the consignees were 

 glad to pay Ids price together with his trav- 

 elling expenses. 



If our honey is candied, it pays us to melt 

 it before putting it upon the market. 



I have never seen a honey peddler here. 

 California's mountains furnish excellent bee 

 pasturage, but a very poor place in which to 

 develope a home market : consequently, the 

 most of our honey goes to the Eastern and 

 foreign markets. 



I think the time, to sell is of more impor- 

 tance than the how. It is difficult to get a 

 high price wlien honey is plentiful. At least, 

 I have never discovered any way of doing it, 

 so I wait until it is scarce, before marketing. 

 I have held honey eighteen months, and 

 doubled my money by so doing. If a man 

 has creditors bothering him, he is likely to 

 sell too soon : if he has money to lend, he is 

 inclined to hold his honey too long. I at- 

 tribute my success to good guessing, as 

 much as to anything else. When I guessed 

 we were going to have a good season, I 

 bought bees. When I guessed we were 

 going to have a poor season, I held my 

 honey, and got a good price for it. 



FiLLMOKE, CAL. Aug. 5, 1890. 



The p Bee-Keepers' + Review, 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY. 



W. Z. HUTOHINSON, Editor & Proprietor. 



TERMS : -."iO cents a year in advance, two 

 copies for a") conts; three for $1.35; five for $2.00; 

 ten or more, 3r. t-onta each; all to be sent to one 

 POST office. In clubs to different post offices, 

 NOT LESS than 45 cents each. 



FLINT, MICHIGAN, AUGUST JO, 1890. 



De. MoituisoN has quit the queen business 

 and his address is Colorado Springs, Col. 



"Bee-Keepers' Day," at the Detroit Ex- 

 position, has been changed to Friday, 

 August lii). 



We have received, from M. R. Hayes, of 

 W'ashington, Kansas, a foundation fastener 

 that suits us a little the best of any we have 

 tried. It works upon the lanip-heated-slid- 

 ing-iron-melted-wax plan. 



